My pick seems to have odeas of its own...

Michael Bauer

Hi Rob. You know, Michael was right, the problem did sort itself out. I did use Gorilla Snot and it worked really well, but by the time it wore off, I found I didn't need it anymore. I eventually settled on a 5mm pick, and Pablo Robin of Am Ketenes taught me to play rhythm with the round side of the pick and that solved everything. I don't lose the pick more than once a month or so now.

The other thing I noticed is that my main Wegen pick is wearing down and rounding off at the tip, which seems to help as well.

If you are going to be at Django in June, Rob, I hope I'll get a chance to say "hello".

Samuel

Michael Bauer wrote:

Hi Rob. You know, Michael was right, the problem did sort itself out. I did use Gorilla Snot and it worked really well, but by the time it wore off, I found I didn't need it anymore. I eventually settled on a 5mm pick, and Pablo Robin of Am Ketenes taught me to play rhythm with the round side of the pick and that solved everything. I don't lose the pick more than once a month or so now.

The other thing I noticed is that my main Wegen pick is wearing down and rounding off at the tip, which seems to help as well.

If you are going to be at Django in June, Rob, I hope I'll get a chance to say "hello".

Do you notice a decrease in volume playing on the more rounded edge? I'm still very much learning and have a good ways to go, but I noticed that playing on the more rounded edge of the pick sounds a lot better to me, but doesn't seem to give me as much volume.

Do people generally play on the rounded edge all the time, or kind of just do whatever the situation calls for and play with the pointed end of the pick if they want a sharper attack?

I figure my technique could definitely use improvement and all of that, but the pointed end just seems harder to get a nicer sound out of

BluesBop Harry

This might interest you:
viewtopic.php?t=3906
Check out #3 in Andreas' answer.
I personally have found the pointed end sounds brighter, but I use the rounded edge because to me it gives a better sound.

Samuel

Thanks. Seems like it's just harder to get a clean sound with the point compared to the rounded, but like you said, it does sound brighter. Again, I can see both kind of being useful depending on what you're playing, so it's probably good to be able to play well with the pointed end too, it seems.

I guess the answer is just to keep practicing and when I'm tired of the pointed end sounding bad, I'll switch back to the rounded end and pretend that I always sound that good

Lipskimusic

I am using the Wegen 1,8 mm and have the same problem. About 30 sec. into playing rhythm the pick (I am using the pointed end) starts turning clockwise. I found a way to correct that 'on the fly' but at higher tempos it is almost impossible to do that. I am holding the pick in a very comfortable way (loose but not super loose). Funny enough I have zero issues when playing solo.